Hard Left defeated in RMT race

The hard-Left today suffered a blow for control of the RMT, largest of the rail industry unions.

Mick Cash, the Labour moderate and staunch opponent of the Leftwing element, who said he was "fed up" with the RMT being portrayed as "strike happy and extreme", has been voted assistant general secretary of the 60,000-strong union.

He won support from members clearly exasperated by the continual strike ballots both on the Tube and mainline railways.

Mr Cash, 42, will be number two to Bob Crow, the hard-Left winger who took over as general secretary last month. There was virtually an audible sign of relief from Number 10 and rail industry chiefs who hope he will now exert a calming influence over the union.

A senior manager at London Underground, where the union is threatening more strikes over pay and working conditions, described the ballot result as a "victory for common sense".

Mr Cash, with 6,736 votes, defeated John MacDonald of the hard-Left who returned 4,889. There were three other candidates.

Mr Cash said today: "I want to help take the union into the 21st century."

The election follows a shake-up at the top of the union following the death last year of Jimmy Knapp, the Labour stalwart. His colleague and deputy Vernon Hince retires next week.

Mr Crow, a member of the hard-Left and previously number three in charge, was overwhelmingly elected leader last month. The Left has been actively campaigning for Mr MacDonald whose election campaign included fighting the proposed part-privatisation of the Tube and calling for the renationalisation of the mainline rail network.

Mr Cash is against the union continually using the threat of strikes to gain improvements. He told members in his election campaign: "I want the union to negotiate first and only call for strike action when you need it and all else fails.

"I am fed up with our union being portrayed as strike happy and extreme."

Mr Cash previously gave Mr Crow a close shave when the Left-winger first stood for assistant general secretary of the union four years ago. He lost by only a couple of hundred votes.

At the time he attacked the Left saying: "We have had more strike ballots than we have had annual pay awards."

His victory, however, will not stop the campaign by the Left for control of the union. There is still one more election to take place, this time for Mr Crow's old job as number three. The Left will now increase the pressure on union members for support.

Among those standing is Pat Sikorski, known in union circles as the "general" for his behind-thescenes command in many a Tube dispute. The result of this election - a drawn-out process - will not be announced until the end of July.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in